Masonic, Occult and Esoteric Online Library
The Upanishads, Part 1
By Max Müller
VI, 14
FOURTEENTH KHANDA 2.
1. 'As one might lead a person with his eyes covered away from the Gandhâras 3, and leave him then in a place where there are no human beings; and as that person would turn towards the east, or the north, or the west, and shout, "I have been brought here with my eyes covered, I have been left here with my eyes covered,"
2. 'And as thereupon some one might loose his bandage and say to him, "Go in that direction, it is Gandhâra, go in that direction;" and as thereupon, having been informed and being able to judge for himself, he would by asking his way from village to village arrive at last at Gandhâra,--in exactly the same manner does a man, who meets with a teacher to inform him, obtain the true knowledge 1. For him there is only delay so long as he is not delivered (from the body); then he will be perfect 1.
3. 'That which is the subtile essence, in it all that exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and thou, O Svetaketu, art it.'
'Please, Sir, inform me still more,' said the son.
'Be it so, my child,' the father replied.
Footnotes
105:2 The question here asked is: The salt, though no longer perceptible by means of sight or touch, could be discovered by taste. Then how can the Sat be discovered, although it is imperceptible by all the senses?
105:3 The Gandhâras, but rarely mentioned in the Rig-veda and the Ait. Brâhmana, have left their name in Κ?νδαροι and Candahar. The fact of their name being evidently quite familiar to the author of the Upanishad might be used to prove either its antiquity or its Northern origin.
106:1 Tedious as the commentator is in general, he is sometimes almost eloquent in bringing out all that is implied or supposed to be implied in the sacred text. He explains the last simile as follows: A man was carried away by robbers from his own country. After his eyes had been covered, he was taken to a forest full of terrors and dangers arising from tigers, robbers, &c. Not knowing where he was, and suffering from hunger and thirst, he began to cry, wishing to be delivered from his bonds. Then a man took pity on him and removed his bonds, and when he had returned to his home, he was happy. Next follows the application. Our real home is the True (Sat), the Self of the world. The forest into which we are driven is the body, made of the three elements, fire, water, earth, consisting of blood, flesh, bones, &c., and liable to cold, heat, and many other evils. The bands with which our eyes are covered are our desires for many things, real or unreal, such as wife children, cattle, &c., while the robbers by whom we are driven into the forest are our good and evil deeds. Then we cry and say: 'I am the son of so and so, these arc my relatives, I am happy, I am miserable, I am foolish, I am wise, I am just, I am born, I am dead, I am old, I am wretched, my son is dead, my fortune is gone, I am undone, how shall I live, where shall I go, who will save me?' These and hundreds and thousands of other evils are the bands which blind us. Then, owing to some supererogatory good works we may have done, we suddenly meet a man who knows the Self of Brahman, whose own bonds have been broken, who takes pity on us and shows us the way to see the evil which attaches to all p. 107 that we love in this world. We then withdraw ourselves from all worldly pleasures. We learn that we are not mere creatures of the world, the son of so and so, &c., but that we are that which is the True (Sat). The bands of our ignorance and blindness are removed, and, like the man of Gandhâra, we arrive at our own home, the Self, or the True. Then we are happy and blessed.
107:1 The last words are really--'for him there is only delay so long as I shall not be delivered; then I shall be perfect.' This requires some explanation. First of all, the change from the third to the first person, is best explained by assuming that at the point where all individuality vanishes, the father, as teacher, identifies himself with the person of whom he is speaking.
The delay (the kira or kshepa) of which he speaks is the time which passes between the attainment of true knowledge and death, or freedom from the effects of actions performed before the attainment of knowledge. The actions which led to our present embodiment must be altogether consumed, before the body can perish, and then only are we free. As to any actions performed after the attainment of knowledge, they do not count; otherwise there would be a new embodiment, and the attainment of even true knowledge would never lead to final deliverance.
